Caipirinha recipe
Brazil's national cocktail — cachaca, lime, sugar, and a heavy hand with the muddler.
Method: Muddle ·
Glass: Rocks glass ·
Time: 2 min ·
Difficulty: Beginner ·
Family: The Old Fashioned Family
Ingredients
- 2 oz Cachaca (Leblon or Novo Fogo — NOT rum)
- 1 Lime (cut into wedges)
- 2 tsp White Sugar (granulated, not simple syrup)
How to make a Caipirinha
- Cut a lime into 8 wedges. Place them in a rocks glass.
- Add sugar directly on top of the lime wedges.
- Muddle firmly — you want to extract the juice AND the oils from the skin.
- Fill the glass with crushed or cracked ice.
- Pour in the cachaca.
- Stir briefly to combine and serve with a short straw.
Garnish
None needed — the lime is already in there.
Pro tip
Cachaca is NOT rum. It's made from fresh sugarcane juice, not molasses. The flavor is grassier, funkier, and more vegetal. Using rum makes a different drink (a Ti' Punch or a Caipiroska with vodka). Also, use granulated sugar — it acts as an abrasive that helps extract more lime oil when you muddle.
History of the Caipirinha
The Caipirinha (pronounced kai-pee-REEN-ya) originated in Sao Paulo, Brazil in the early 1900s. It was originally a folk remedy for the Spanish Flu — lime, garlic, and cachaca. Someone dropped the garlic, added sugar, and a national treasure was born. It became Brazil's official cocktail in 2003.
Flavour profile
Lime, Sweet, Grassy, Strong
Variations
- Caipiroska — Use vodka instead of cachaca
- Caipifruta — Muddle in seasonal fruit — passion fruit, mango, or strawberry
- Batida — Blend cachaca with condensed milk and fruit
Practise making the Caipirinha in the free Virtual Bar game.